I-864: RFE Questions

[pygmysloth 0]

Hello everyone,

thank you for helping us out.

We filed the application for my marriage-based AOS in September and just received a "Request for Initial Evidence" with two items:

1. "Submit all supporting tax documentation (W-2, 1099s, Form 2555, and all supporting tax schedules) submitted to the Internal Revenue Service for the most recent tax year. The petitioner/sponsor must submit all supporting tax documents for the most recent tax year."

The thing is, my husband checked no. 20 in part 6, which states that his income was too low to require a federal tax return. He also provided a written explanation for why his income was too low to file, and he provided a copy of a document supporting this explanation. This seems to comply with all the USCIS requirements for a case like this, so we don't understand why they are still asking for his tax forms.

He slightly rewrote the letter, in which he cites the IRS guidelines for when you are required to file taxes (indicating that he didn't meet those requirements). He stated that he wasn't married in 2015 (therefore not required to file because of his marital status), and that he didn't have any assets that could have provided extra income. He is also citing the USCIS instructions for I-864, just in case.

And then we'll just refile this letter, again with the supporting evidence showing that his situation was as he described. Is this correct? Do you have any other suggestions about what to do/add?

2. "Based on the documents submitted with Form I-864, Affidavit of Support, for the petitioner/sponsor, the income did not meet 125% of the poverty guideline for the petitioner/sponsor's household size", followed by a request asking for evidence of assets that meet the standards.

Again, the weird thing is: my husband makes $41,000/year in his current job, which should be plenty to meet the income requirements. Since he only started the job in August, he couldn't file tax returns for the previous year (see above), so he submitted an employment verification letter and a paystub.

We are not sure what the problem here is. Does he simply need to file more paystubs to show that the job is actually continuing? We are going to do this when we file the evidence.

Or are they counting not his annual income, but his income only for the 2016 calendar year (which would be less than the required income because it's only 4 months of work/payments)?

In this case, can we fix the problem by submitting evidence of my (beneficiary's) assets? I do have savings that can cover the required difference, we simply didn't include them initially because we assumed his income would be more than enough.

If we submit evidence of my assets (as in, bank statements of the last 12 month proving that I do have the savings to cover the required difference), do we need to submit anything else with it, any other document/paperwork?

Thank you so much for your help!

[JFH 12,191]

Which visa or status are you adjusting from?

[pygmysloth 0]

Oh, apologies: I'm currently on an F-1 visa, and the I-20 associated with it expires in June 2017.

[Penguin_ie 5,997]

***** Moving from CR-1 to AOS from Student Visa forum *****